Impact of a $15 minimum wage in your congressional district

What’s happening

More than 80,000 people living in West Virginia, where the minimum wage is $8.75 an hour, will see higher pay if the federal minimum wage is raised to $15 an hour. But this week, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia made it clear he’s not supportive of the increase.

To help inform those legislators who brush aside the regional and national impact of a $15 minimum wage if the Raise the Wage Act of 2021 were enacted into law, EPI put together this map showing the estimated share and count of workers in each congressional district who would receive wage increases. 
Which localities would gain the most from a $15 minimum wage?
The federal minimum hourly wage is just $7.25 and has not increased since 2009. The Raise the Wage Act of 2021, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 26, 2021, would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. View the map »
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Which localities would gain the most from a $15 minimum wage?
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What we’re talking about
The effects of the $15 minimum wage on the federal budget
If the 2021 Raise the Wage Act were passed and the federal hourly minimum wage increased to $15 by 2025, we estimate that annual government expenditures on major public assistance programs would fall by between $13.4 billion and $31.0 billion. Read the report »
Reforming temporary work visa programs 
The COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump administration’s failure to protect temporary migrant workers has exacerbated their already vulnerable position. Temporary migrant workers continue to suffer and fear retaliation and deportation if they speak up about wage theft, workplace abuses, discrimination, or other substandard working conditions. Both the executive branch and Congress can take action on this. Read the report »
How the pandemic economy is hurting women and minorities 
EPI’s Elise Gould spoke with NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro on Weekend Edition: “Women were already facing many difficulties balancing…family and other caregiving responsibilities…it’s not surprising when the pandemic hits and you have women not just leaving the labor force, but really being pushed out of the labor force.” Listen to the segment »
Federal minimum wage raise would promote racial equity 
EPI’s Valerie Wilson is quoted in The Sacramento Bee: “African American workers haven’t benefited as much as they would from a federal minimum wage increase, which would get into those southern states that have about 60% of African American workers, and are much less likely to increase minimum wages.” Read the article »
Economists refute King’s argument for going slow on COVID relief 
EPI’s Josh Bivens is quoted in Beacon: “I think the King formulation is super simplistic and really misguided right now. It is an absolute slam dunk that deficit financing another round of COVID relief will make our kids richer, not poorer.”  Read the article »

Upcoming webinar
Actions the Biden administration and Congress can take to better protect farmworkers
Join us for a webinar highlighting an EPI report on how efforts to protect the wages and working conditions of U.S. farmworkers and temporary migrant farmworkers with H-2A visas have failed. Register for the webinar »
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What we’re reading
McDonald’s is paying employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine
McDonald’s is joining the ranks of companies offering to pay employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, announcing that they will provide four hours of paid time to employees who get inoculated against the virus. Read more »
Amazon ratchets up anti-union pressure on workers in Alabama
Amazon has unleashed a public-relations campaign at its warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, hoping to persuade more than 5,800 workers to reject the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Read more »
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West Virginia senator won’t support $15 minimum wage: What his constituents could lose as a result
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